Administration Professional Pathways
Executive Update
What Gets Measured, Gets Done
For any business to be successful, it must be staffed by quality employees who can perform their jobs accurately, safely and consistently, at all times. The only way to ensure this level of performance is to have a well-trained work force. That’s why, according to the market and consumer data firm, Statista, businesses in the United States spend a collective $80 billion each year on training and development. However, the effectiveness of training is about more than how much money you spend on it. In reality, it is about getting the results you hoped for when you invested in the program to begin with. You need to ask yourself, “Did the participants of the program gain useful knowledge that they can apply to their work? Did employees demonstrate improved performance? Has the organization seen a return on the investment it put into the program?” 1 Measuring Your Training’s Effectiveness You don’t initiate training in a vacuum. You generally set up a single workshop, or even an entire training program, because you have identified a specific need, or isolated an organiza- tional problem. And when that training is completed, you want to see whether you’ve received any return on your investment. Did the training improve staff performance? Did it improve the quality of service? Did it boost employee morale? By evaluating the effectiveness of your training you can learn about what it did well, and what could be improved in the future. There are several methods and metrics you can use to measure your training’s effectiveness:
assignment, by e-mailing each person shortly after the cut-off date. Use an electronic survey to verify that each employee has viewed the video. Invite feedback through the survey, and reward each participant with a certificate of completion. 3. In-person observation – School foodservice is organized to have an on-site manager, and in many cases, an area supervisor, make regular site visits. Through this chain of command, you can track how well staff are implementing poli- cies and procedures, post-training. It only takes straightforward observation of employees going about their daily tasks. At this stage, a supervisor can also make on-the-job suggestions, or adjustments, if needed. You can use the same in-person observation technique when you’re assessing the impact of customer service training on staff performance. Are employees smiling more at customers? Are they making better eye contact? Do you hear more polite conversation between the staff and students? Do you sense a more sincere relationship between staff and customers? Once you see firsthand how people are doing, you can reinforce the training by congratulating individuals on how well they’ve applied the techniques taught during a workshop. 4. Performance monitoring – You can also evaluate the effectiveness of training by reviewing any post-training input you receive. Students or parents may write to you, or provide verbal feedback about improvements in meal quality, or service delivery. On the quantitative end, you can analyze whether training has affected your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as increased sales and/or improved participation. Without using testing, observation, assessment or feedback, you cannot know whether your training dollars have been well spent. Follow-up is key if you want to discover lingering issues. It’s the best way to make the kinds of adjustments you may need to go forward successfully. 1 Indeed Editorial Team, “How To Measure Training Effectiveness in 5 Steps,” Indeed.com , September 15, 2021. www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-mea- sure-training-effectiveness. Accessed: July 22, 2022.
How to Assess the Effective- ness of Training By Chef Stephanie Dyehouse, Assistant Super- visor of Culinary Development, Cincinnati Public Schools, OH
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1. Pre-testing and post-testing – If you’re holding an in-person training session, start the class with a short survey to find out what participants may already know. Then perform a post-train- ing test to see how much they’ve learned and retained. It is always interesting to compare the befores and afters. For the pass/fail score, use multiple-choice questions. Include open-ended questions to encourage comments on how the
Chef Stephanie, SNS, has nearly 30 years experience in both commercial and non-profit foodservice. Before assuming her current position, she was field supervisor for Cincinnati Public Schools, helping school managers to comply with NSLP regulations. Now she helps develop new menu items that are scratch cooked, using fresh, not processed foods. Chef Stephanie is a member of the CSI Chefs Alliance.
training session could be improved. 2. E-mail survey – Imagine you have set up a self-guided training video, which you want everyone to view by a specific date. You can check to see if everyone has completed the
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